Fine, feathered and free
What falls to the ground in Atlanta may end up in a Pueblo village in New Mexico; or floating atop a stream in Oregon; or in other places where feathers are worth more than their weight in gold.
Zoo Atlanta is participating in programs that send plumage from some of its most colorful birds to people who value them for culture or sport. Some wind up in the hands of Native Americans who use them in centuries-old ceremonies. Others are used in making fishing flies.
The feathers, regardless of where they’re bound, are no longer needed by the macaws, parrots, conures and other brilliant creatures that once wore them. The zoo collects the feathers after they fall to the ground and sends them to feather giveaway programs in Illinois and Michigan.
“It’s a spectacular use” of discarded feathers, said bird keeper Jennifer Cavarra, who regularly puts on bird shows at the zoo. “It goes a long way to reducing demand for feathers that may otherwise be harvested illegally.”
In February, the zoo for the first time shipped off a stack of red, green, blue and gold feathers to an Illinois anthropologist who oversees a program that sends plumage to nearly 30 Pueblo villages. The Pueblo people use the feathers to pray for rain, greet the changing seasons and in other ceremonies that predate this country.
The zoo also mails feathers from its Kori bustard, one of the world’s heaviest flying birds, to a Michigan retiree who sends them to fly-tying enthusiasts. Native to the African continent, the Kori Bustard has mottled plumage prized for making fishing flies.
A bustard tail feather 2 feet or longer once commanded $300 or more, said John McLain of White Lake, Mich. He’s the founder of FeathersMc.com, a Web site that features materials used in the construction of vintage fishing flies. A featured item is Kori bustard feathers, which McLain ships anywhere in the U.S. for $4.05 mailing costs. He does not charge for the feathers.
When he retired as a police spokesman in 2000, said McLain, his colleagues passed around the hat and bought him two Kori bustard feathers to accommodate his fly-tying habit. The tab: $300.
“Three-hundred dollars for two lousy feathers!” McLain exclaimed. He began collecting the feathers from zoos in late 2003 and early 2004, offering them for cost.
Jonathan Reyman, curator of anthroplogoy at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield, Ill., has been offering feathers form exotic birds — macaws, parrots, conures — to Pueblo villages since 1982. By mailing them to the villages, said Reyman, he helps keep alive customs that date back centuries.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Reyman said.
One thousand years ago, some of the people who lived in present-day Arizona and New Mexico traded with neighbors hundreds of miles to the south, in what is now Mexico. The southern merchants brought them macaws, parrots and other brilliant-hued birds, whose feathers were used to herald the coming of spring and other events. The Pueblo dwellers gave them turquoise in return.
In 1970, when he was a graduate student, Reyman learned from an old Pueblo dweller than the feathers once traded so easily were increasingly more difficult to find. Could Reyman think of a way to make the feathers easier to get, the man asked.
Twelve years later, when Reyman entered a pet shop to get a chew toy for his Brittany spaniel, he got the answer. A pile of colorful feathers littered a cage, and Reyman asked the dealer if he could have them.
“When I explained why, he gave them to me,” said Reyman.
Since then, Reyman estimates, he has collected more than 7 million feathers and sent them away for religious and cultural ceremonies.
Some made their way to the Ocama Pueblo in New Mexico, where Native Americans have used feathers for centuries.
“It [Reyman's program] has helped us tremendously,” said Robert Salvador, an Ocama resident who deals with Reyman.
Cavarra, who last year sent some feathers of her own birds to Reyman, said the zoo is happy to help.
‘It’s a delight to share the feathers,” she said.